UPCYCLING: ACING ON WASTE

Photo credit: Territory via Pexels

But what’s upcycling in the first place?

Let me attempt to explain…

SPENT TYRES

A brand new car tyre could cost around USD 50 in the Kenyan market.?

So what if – in a worst case scenario – this tyre is roughed up within a span of a month or two (given the bad state of our roads)?

Well, the driver could decide to do one of three things:

First, the spent tyre could be disposed off in a rubbish dump – now that’s a case we’d like to avoid like plague.

Second, the tyre could be set up in a front-yard, pack the hollow centre with enriched soil and use it to grow vegetables – wow, now we’re talking.

Better still, the used tyre could be repurposed into a coffee table or a furniture set – now this is the real deal (imagine I nicknamed my son ‘the real deal’!)

…Back to the tyre story.

Now compare the values of the finished products with the original value of the tyre.

The first case is the worst case because waste has little or no value – unless processed into something else.

In the second case, the tyre garden could fetch a price of probably 5 USD give or take – less than the original tyre value.

But what about the furniture?

You’d probably be talking about a 100+USD value for these.

You see we’ve taken something destined for the waste dump and converted it into a product that has a greater sale value than the original.

Now that’s upcycling.

Saying that upcycling has the potential to create jobs is an understatement.

It can revolutionize entire economies if taken seriously because from one waste material, a myriad of valuable products could be manufactured.

Let’s take a deep dive and see.

BEEF FAT

The mere sight of raw beef (or animal) fat is gross.

But when we think of products that could come out of it, then we can start seeing it differently.

First, the fat could be heated slowly over time converting it into beef tallow.

TALLOW

Now tallow is strictly made from the fat around cow organs.

But it’s become acceptable to render tallow from fats from other sections of a cow.

Beef tallow by itself is a product that could fetch a good market- especially among the health conscious.

But beef tallow isn’t the end of the story.

SOAP

Place the tallow on a hot plate, heat it until it melts, and add some lye solution under stirring until it ‘traces’.

The result? Soap.

You could also add some fragrance to make it pleasant.

Tallow soap could also be made by mixing tallow with other lighter oils like olive or coconut oils making it foamy and creamy at the same time.

But we’re not yet through with tallow yet.

LOTION AND BALM

We all apply some moisturizer after that shower.

How about making a moisturizer out of beef fat?

Tallow could be preheated and whipped with an essential oil plus some olive oil, resulting in a balm of some sorts that is gentle to the skin.

Remember that tallow is animal fat, which is absorbed easily.

There are a range of other consumer products tallow could produce from candles, a butter substitute, among others.

Now let’s take a look at another form of waste we think less of but which has the potential of producing more than one product.

FRUIT WASTE

So ‘fruit waste’ means all the fruit that goes to waste in a rubbish dump or even in the market.

Think of the avocados that so easily rot.

Avocado oil is one product that could be derived from avocados.

Avocado oil is touted as being one of the most healthy cooking oils around rivalled only by olive oil.

The avocado pulp (and even over-ripe bananas) could be also frozen or used to make flavored yogurt that is kinder to stomachs than the fresh dairy products we’re used to.

Citrus rinds could be used to make citrus essential oils that are a good additive to confectionery, soap etc.

Rotting tomatoes could be blanched and spiced to make dip sauces or even be used to make tomatoes paste.

Natural dyes could be captured from beetroot and onion peels to add color to other products like soap.

And we’ve not even started looking into antioxidants.

The deep colored fruits are full of these substances which help ward off a range of lifestyle diseases.

These natural substances could be derived from peels of pineapples, citrus, some vegetable waste, etc.

In short, the fruit waste pile is a potential zone for anyone ready to roll up their sleeves and get dirty in order to make some cash.

IN CONCLUSION

So, let’s venture into this journey of upcycling.

In the coming few weeks, I’ll throw in a spanner or two in the works in this regard.

I’ll touch on some of the most common wastes and how we could use them to make very valuable products.

What better way to build wealth than doing it from scratch.

So dig in.

Originally posted on Cleannovate Blog